Big-Boss's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[MAKE IT as an Artist]

This game really makes you feel some of the struggles that come with trying to be an artist. I really enjoyed the aspect of making the player feel something. I don't know the struggles of being an artist, but I felt like this game gave me an idea of what it's like.

I really enjoyed the music, but it does get repetitive. The palm trees and sunset were nice visuals. I also liked the pixel art style.

I found this game to be needlessly difficult, however. Everything drains too quickly and I found it ridiculous that everything drains even when you're not doing anything. It makes no sense to lose money when you're not doing anything. I can understand the other three things draining when you're not doing anything, but money? No, definitely a flawed mechanic.

deathink responds:

Hey man, thanks for the review.
There has been a bunch of comments saying things like "it's makes no sense to lose money when you're doing nothing", this is false.
Everyday you live (at least as an adult) you are incurring debt because of things like rent, electric, food, taxes and the list goes on and on.
If life was truly a video game, it would be optimum to procure as much money in the least amount of time, because the more time you live the less money you will retain.
This is a super stressful concept that rattles subconsciously in the back of a lot of peoples minds, because instead of focusing on making the most money you can, you being focusing on losing the least money you can which is much more pessimistic in contrast.

[Quarrel Hill]

Honestly, I didn't expect much from this game at first. There isn't much to it, but it was surprisingly fun! I like the concept and some of the things that the people would say were kind of funny. The music is good and I don't mind the graphics.

A couple of things that could've been better are the medals and the smoke at the bottom of the game screen. With the smoke, the only reason I'm bringing that up is because it makes the last upgrade on the screen kind of hard to see. At first I didn't even notice there was an upgrade for hunger.

Then for the medals, the one that requires you to eat 500 people and the one that requires you to push 1000 people off of the cliff are a bit much. I really had to work to get those medals, which isn't always a bad thing, but when it comes to clicker type games it can really wear out a person's arm. Those two medals really tired my arm out, so I would know, haha.

Domo76 responds:

Thanks!! I am actually preparing to create a sequel and will take your comments seriously. Glad you liked it in spite those mistakes I made as beginner!

[Turbo Hobo Cannon]

It's a nice little game. I like the hobo theme you made the game around. I also like your drawing style.

This game would be a little better with some upgrades. It would also be nice if the piles of syringes didn't kill the hobo's flight completely when landed on.

Finally, I have no idea how to get the medals. I've played the game several times and I think that I would've got them by now. Are they working properly? Because no one has got them yet.

LunaWolfStudios responds:

Thanks for the review! The whole game was handrawn :D Also, Ignore the medals they will hopefully be fixed next update!

[HOLD IT IN]

Definitely an...interesting concept, haha. Kind of makes me feel like I have poop in my throat when I play this, though.

It really is an interesting concept, if a bit gross, so props to you for that.

It's humorous, which is good. Yeah, it's poop humor, but the look on the dad's face when the kid poops is great.

One thing I don't really like about this game is how abrupt the poop moves sometimes. It kind of makes it hard to interpret when it's going to go to the other end.

Oh, and by the way, what the heck are they? Are they supposed to be anything? Or just big purple blobs? I'm curious, haha.

AlexVsCoding responds:

Hey! Thanks for the lengthy feedback! The characters are just people, I love drawing lumpy people and have been getting the hang of colour theory over the last year.

The way to tell how the poop is going to move is by looking in the background - When the car goes up a hill, it is pushed downwards. When you go downhill, it is pushed upwards. On flat land I opted for zero g to mix things up rather than standard gravity.

Over time, the forces applied in either direction increase with the timer, hence why it becomes more erratic and unpredictable. To tell which way it's about to move, look at the arms of the player and the hills in the background.

Thanks again and glad you enjoyed it!

[Jump The Sky]

It's a very overdone idea, so that's one reason why I can't give it a good score. The other reason is because some of the platforms are so low that it's almost impossible to see them.

The music isn't terrible, nor is the design, but this idea for a game has been done a million times. This a good type of game to start with, but don't expect to get good ratings from it. You should really improve on your game developing skills before making a new game.

AlanAlsoKnownAsCrow responds:

Thanks for playing.

[Deterministic Dungeon]

This is an amazing game you guys!

1. The random generator mechanic was actually a ton of fun! From randomly choosing your character and their name to the amount of damage you could land on, it was all great.
2. I loved how there were so many different items to choose from when it came to armor, weapons, and shields. All of the designs were cool and well done. Not to mention that the special weapons were very comedic. Having the choice to fight with a pickle or a balloon animal was pretty funny.
3. The enemy designs were absolutely fantastic. I also like how there were very many different enemies to keep it interesting.
4.In my opinion, the coolest thing about this game was the totems. It was awesome that each one had their own special power to them. The green one was probably the best one, since it slowed down the random generator, making it easier to get what I wanted, haha.

Even though this is an incredible game, I wish there was something to do with the excess loot besides using the cauldron at the witch's shop. It doesn't hurt how the player plays the game, so I'm not going to reduce the score I'm giving this game, but it was just something that came across my mind.

Nonetheless, amazing game! It didn't take long for me to add this masterpiece to my favorites. Now I just have to beat hard mode, haha.

PestoForce responds:

Thanks for the great review! I definitely agree about needing something to do with all the extra loot!

[Rollin' Timmy]

The concept is nothing new, but it was executed decently for the most part. There are a couple of issues I have with this game.

1. The upgrade prices could be lower or the coin and gems values could be higher to make it so upgrades aren't so hard to buy.

2. Big Timmy mode is helpful, but it can also be unhelpful. Since you can't jump while big, there have been a few instances where I'm in Big Timmy mode and when he's reducing back to his normal size, it's right before an obstacle, giving me no time to react, ending my game. This especially pissed me off when I was six points away from beating the high score on the leaderboard . No one who plays this game should have to hope that Big Timmy mode doesn't end right before an obstacle or they're screwed.

madscs responds:

Thanks for the input, I'll make an update for the game in the near future so I'll be sure to keep this in mind! :)

[Gift Clicker]

This is actually a great clicker game! A lot of clicker games are very mediocre, so I was surprised to see how fun this game is!

Good qualities:

You added a couple original elements, such as the gambling mini games and the level system. Props to you for creating a clicker game with a couple news things to do.

Secondly, I can tell you put a lot of work into it. The graphics are great, the music is nice and doesn't get annoying, and there are a lot of elements to it, so the player doesn't get bored quickly like a lot of clicker games.

Bad Qualities:

There are a lot of grammatical errors.

The prices for the last three snowman upgrades are pretty steep.

P.S. This wasn't something to put as a bad quality, but this game would be even better if it had medals!

jamboska responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I am pleased to read it. Could you help me with translation? (Write that you want to correct.) English is not my main language. Thank you)

[Jingle Clicker]

This game is pretty bad when it comes to the 'idle clicker' type of games. First of all, it's only suitable for one time of year. I understand that you made this game to be suitable for the holidays, but I feel that it was a miss with this game, personally.

Secondly, The idle clicker games that I've played didn't have a sound effect everytime you clicked the cookie, pizza, etc. and that's what makes this one kind of annoying. Having the bell make a bell sound everytime you clicked it really annoyed me.

Next, with how many presents can gather up due to upgrades, I don't want to click the 'Open!' button several hundreds of times. Make an improvement on that because nobody wants to click a button THAT many times.

Also, the idle clicker idea is getting VERY old. Not a good idea to base this game of off. Unless someone can make an idle clicker very appealing somehow, the genre is dead and you're not going to get a good score since you made a below average idle clicker game.

I'm sorry if I sound harsh, but you really need to improvise and come up with your own ideas for games. Not to mention that it seems like all of your games have bugs where users can't progress or earn a certain medal. For example, I can't get the 'Season's Greetings' medal here and I'm really sick of playing your games, hoping to have a good experience, and then it's all 'oh, I can't earn this medal' or whatever the issue is.

It seems that you really need to learn how to take your time when creating games to make sure that they don't have any issues. I try to enjoy your games, I really do, but there is always a problem with them. Your quiz games always give the user a wrong answer when it's right or a medal doesn't work or whatever. I'm sure you can be a better game developer, but it always seems like you either rush things, you don't care, or you just don't know what you're doing 100% of the time.

Again, sorry if I'm being harsh, but you've had so many issues with your games. I've played most of your games and I've had a problem with all of them at one time or another. It's getting unacceptable with how many games you've put out. I really hope with your next game that you improve ten fold and don't have any bugs or medal issues because at the rate you're going now it's embarrassing for you and irritating for the users who want to enjoy your games.

applessmillion responds:

Well, I can't honestly disagree with many of your points, so hear me out. I'd like to first point out that I have no intention of associating the word "Idle" with this game. In my opinion, it's a cruel holiday game. After testing the game before I threw in the API, I noticed the game was nearly completable in 10 minutes with a karma need of 10 million. So I buffed it. By a lot.
After the buff, I noticed the game was lacking something - a noise. It's kind of my own cruel joke not to even give the option to mute anything in this game - sure, I could throw in a mute button, but I feel it'd destroy the purpose I want this game to have, if it even has one. The reason there's even an upgrade for a type of "idle" karma is because I felt it was a bit too harsh and repetitive (already is, but would be way more) without some form of gain other than clicking the Bell.

The reason this game is holiday themed is simply because I like this season. I wanted to make a game for the Christmas season without completely destroying a good and developed game. So a week long project of a clicker came to mind instead of another concept I wish not to discuss.
Yes, it's another clicker game, pretty much the same type of game I've been milking ever since my time here (except the "rubbing" idea seems to get way more attention). Why not ring (no pun intended) out the year with another one. The year of clickers/rubbers is over.
Now, for your deeper and more constructive critisims. I did test this game. Check the players who won the metals. I've won all but the Polarized one, simply due to the fact I found that I had named it "Polarizing" in the code. Fixed it and moved on. I'm not sure why it skipped you in rewarding the metal. If you had a present in the second month (month 1) of playing, the game checks about 5-8 times if you qualify for the metal.
Moving on from that, my response to your other points is this - I am learning. You're right, I don't always know what I am doing. Often times I find solutions or ways to do things by just playing around, which probably isn't the best way to make a game. Around April of this year is when I started looking into ActionScript again, after taking about a 3 year break. Hell, I just learned how to locally save data this year. Being used to how Kongregate works (usually low view counts and almost no comments), I am not that experienced with the deployment and feedback from games, and am slowly getting into it. I actually found my way here because I finally felt like I needed to expand on my reach. Updates are scarse to my current games because my earlier games never were designed to receive updates well. I'm used to a 1-2 patch system then it's done. Main reason Electric Rubber currently has bugs is because I've added roughly 7-8 patches and checks to see if users need them or not (which has gotten very screwey), and adding another could easily destroy saves. The quiz games I've made are nightmares but much easier to go back and edit. They're very low priority now though, and do want to make a better base that I can just throw questions and possible answers into, and have gotten closer to that with the more I make.
Simply put, I am learning. Idle games are not the only things I make, they just seem to do the best from what I've seen. I do have ideas for 2016, but this winter break I want to fix things. It was never my intention to irritate people, but yes, it is my intention to keep any work that is approved to this website. I am embarrassed by most of my games, but they stay because I made them. It gives someone a chance to see my failures and successes, and judge me from both of those sides. We'll see how this game goes, but success or fail, it'll still represent me. It's always been my idea to throw something weird into an already strong concept (Mystery prizes with clicking :o), and sometimes it doesn't always work out to be something good. But I do promise you this - more variety will be in 2016. I can't promise bug-free games, but it'll be as bug free as a lone tester can make it.

Thank you though. I'm glad someone took the time to say this.
And you write a lot, you get a lot :p